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  Everest 2006: Fi and Paul: More Downtime at Base Camp


Location: Everest Base Camp
Altitude: 5350m
Local Time: 5:30pm, Thurs 20th April
Weather: Fine and warm, 15C

Hi everyone, Fi here,

Not a whole lot more to report today as we continue to wait for the snow to clear.

Today's Weather
Fortunately we hardly received any new snow today and much of the day was warm allowing some of the recent snowfalls to melt and consolidate. In fact, for a while it was pretty hot with some of the team members stripping down to only shorts and T-shirts. Even on days when the temperature is around 0C outside our sleeping tents heat up so much that they are almost uncomfortable to stay inside, so you can imagine how warm the tents were today. In fact, the weather was so strange that for a while we had warm sunshine at the same time as light snow.

Climbing Plans
Today, the rest of our team came down from Camp 1. They reported waist deep snow and were regularly hearing and seeing avalanches close by to camp. So they were a little relieved for today's weather and the fact that the trail had been broken in by another big group (meaning that the fixed lines were easy to find).

However, the weather forecasts seem to indicate some more unstable weather for the next two days so it looks like we'll be staying put here for a least a couple more days. But you never know, that could change as more forecasts come in.

We're both still gradually getting better so will hopefully be in peak form by the time we're able to move up. (By the way Dame, there is oxygen here for medical use but only for emergencies - and we are definitely not at that stage.)

A Good Washing Day
The warmer weather brought out a lot of dirty washing and a queue for the shower. Paul was one of those washing his clothes and I was one having a shower. Feeling much cleaner now (hopefully Paul will have a shower tomorrow too!).

Filling in the Time
The days have certainly got a different feeling from those spent at home. Seems like you can easily fill a day with 3 meals, a game of scrabble, a shower and a good book. It's hard to imagine our former lives of having virtually every working hour booked out with meetings, training before work, often uni after work, and somehow fitting in a social life. Already seems a lifetime away.

One thing we're all doing a lot more of is sleeping. We have dinner at 6pm and some of us make a conscious decision not to go to bed until at least 8pm - stretching out the boardgames and conversation as long as possible! And then breakfast is at 8am so we don't tend to rise until around 7:30. (This is very different from our previous lives where we'd rarely be in bed before midnight and be up at 5:30am for a bike ride.)

Anyway, that's all for now.
Fiona

Updates

 

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